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Topic: Olympic Stadium (Read 19177 times)

Was reading through a couple of West Ham sites this morning as well as looking through various stadium plans of the Olympic Stadium. First of all I was surprised and dissapointed to see the changes made to turn it into a 'football' stadium are minimal. Besides the roof and retractable lower tier seats it's exactly the same as when it was being used as an athletics stadium.

Frankly it's going to be a horrendous place to watch football.

Note the massive gaps between the lower tier (in football mode) and the upper tier, such disjointment is likely to kill any atmosphere. According to some West Ham fans that have been privy to the final plans the front row of the upper tier will be further from the pitch than back row of any stand at Upton park. The below picture highlights how far away the fans are going to be from the pitch.

Amazingly, fans at Upton park will be closer to the far side goal than fans in the back row of the OS seated behind the goal, will be to the goal closest to them. Fuck knows how they're going to see the far end! It'd be like watching a game at Goodison from Stanley park.

The general consensus from WHU fans seems to be that they've been sold down the river. Initial plans were misleading and flattered to deceive to get people on board. Further investigation into the plans have revealed it won't be what they thought. The seats are to remain black and white in that crazy pattern which has pissed a lot of people off after they were promised seats would be claret and blue. Many have the feeling G&S are setting the club up to sell as opposed to leaving a legacy.

The stadium capacity is also an issue. When converted the OS will hold 60,000 but West Ham only had planning permission for 56,000. Meaning there will be atleast 4,000 empty seats at every match. In my opinion WHU would have no chance of regularly selling over 45k tickets anyway, a 56k capacity for a medium sized club is ludicrous.

Apparently the club have only leased the stadium for 25 days a year too which may be cost effective but just doesn't sound right. Franchises aren't too far away if this is anything to go by. Playing at rented white elephants is guaranteed to drive fans away in their droves.

Likes...

Always thought it was going to be a shite football stadium despite the millions being spent to change it. You only need to look at the conversion at Hampden for the Commonwealth Games to A) see how big an athletics track needs to be compared to a football pitch and B) see what a shite atmosphere an oval ground makes especially if there's thousands of empty seats. Even at that, I didn't realise just how far away some of the seats would be.

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Likes...

One things just occurred to me, we're looking to move stadia because we need more corporate facilities supposedly and want to get more use out of the facility 365 a year, but if West Ham are only leasing it for 25 days a year all there left with is matchday income. Where's their new revenue stream coming from besides corporate facilities on match day?

It's not like us just competing with the shite for business custom obviously in London there's loads of clubs chasing the same dollar and there are a lot more prestiges clubs than West Ham who'll be a lot more accessible to Central London. So what on the face of it looked like bargin could surely turn out to be a millstone round their neck if it doesn't go to plan and they've got no home to call their own, West Ham couldn't afford to buy the land and build another stadium in London.

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There are only two things I can't stand in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures... and the Dutch.

One things just occurred to me, we're looking to move stadia because we need more corporate facilities supposedly and want to get more use out of the facility 365 a year, but if West Ham are only leasing it for 25 days a year all there left with is matchday income. Where's their new revenue stream coming from besides corporate facilities on match day?

It's not like us just competing with the shite for business custom obviously in London there's loads of clubs chasing the same dollar and there are a lot more prestiges clubs than West Ham who'll be a lot more accessible to Central London. So what on the face of it looked like bargin could surely turn out to be a millstone round their neck if it doesn't go to plan and they've got no home to call their own, West Ham couldn't afford to buy the land and build another stadium in London.

From what I've gathered they'll get 100% of club shop earning and 50% earned though catering, no doubt all ticket revenue is theirs too. God knows how much they'll get for Upton park. Their outlay is 2m in rent per season. They'll be in the black for sure but at what cost? Brady, sullivan and gold have sold the clubs soul IMO...the atmosphere will be shocking taking the ambience, empty seats and distance to pitch into account.

It's not like us just competing with the shite for business custom obviously in London there's loads of clubs chasing the same dollar and there are a lot more prestiges clubs than West Ham who'll be a lot more accessible to Central London.

Not sure about that. It isn't much further from central London than the Emirates or Stamford Bridge is.

Not sure about that. It isn't much further from central London than the Emirates or Stamford Bridge is.

Proximity to Canary Wharf will certainly help too.

It was just a guesstimate to be honest just feels easier west to central than central onwards, I just can't see them being the draw that Arsenal, Spurs or Chelsea are when their further away from the nice areas that the tourist and corporates like.

Canary Warfs obviously very close but if someone says 'I've can get tickets for Chelsea, Arsenal or West Ham this weekend" they'll struggle getting people excited West Ham I'd imagine. Although I suppose that really underestimate people's love of something for nothing!

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There are only two things I can't stand in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures... and the Dutch.

to be honest, when I went for the Olympics I thought it was a great stadium that could, if converted right, be a decent football stadium

I was sat quite near the back of the stands and while it was a bit of a struggle to make out individuals on the other side of the stadium, that was countered with big screens

if you're sat in a corner though, then you have no chance of seeing what's going on in the far corner without a telescope

the problem is in the rake of the stadium, it's too shallow which means you're too far away from the action at the back

also completely unsold on the roof. we live in the UK and a canvas roof will rot quicker than Nick Cotton in a burnt out house.

the business side of it is what would bother me most if I were a West Ham fan though. 25 days a year is 19 Premier League games plus a maximum of six cup games. Are they not planning on qualifying for Europe of playing more than three rounds of each cup then? What about replays? Could lead to all kinds of problems, as well as having very little investment into the site as a whole meaning they will always feel like tenants.

Sullivan and Gould will make a bomb on Upton Park's site though, so what do they care? They'll sell the club as soon as they've valued Upton Park and moved out.

the business side of it is what would bother me most if I were a West Ham fan though. 25 days a year is 19 Premier League games plus a maximum of six cup games. Are they not planning on qualifying for Europe of playing more than three rounds of each cup then? What about replays? Could lead to all kinds of problems, as well as having very little investment into the site as a whole meaning they will always feel like tenants.

Sullivan and Gould will make a bomb on Upton Park's site though, so what do they care? They'll sell the club as soon as they've valued Upton Park and moved out.

It's funny how especially Gold seems to talk up how they are life long fans of the club as well, only leasing a stadium 25 days a year? that is certainly a recipe for disaster considering they have been recently talking up champions league qualification and such....

What I don't get is that how tied in to the 99 year lease are they? In the NFL stadiums are modernised and rebuilt seemingly with around about a 20 year life expectancy. I know it's different as the cities are vying to keep the franchises there, but it still seems a bit shitty to sign up to a non-football stadium for 99 years.